


This Same Necessity

by zarabithia



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Domesticity, F/M, Gen, PTSD, angsty fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 04:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adopting a dog might not be a traditional stage of grief, but it works for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Same Necessity

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the domesticity meme at my tumblr. Becauseforoncethisisme asked for "Mako/Raleigh." Title comes from [this quote.](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/36797-only-people-who-are-capable-of-loving-strongly-can-also)

When the attacks first began, there had been disbelief, aching, anger, and finally, those things gave way to a desire to work together to fight the Kaiju. After the Rift was sealed and Mako had lost the man who had first promised to help her achieve the last of those stages of grief, she shared an apartment with the second man who had made her such a promise, and from their television, she watched the world undergo a similar grieving process.

When the Rift was sealed, there was first disbelief that the Kaiju had been defeated. The world had been told that before, and it had been proven to be false then. Why should this time be any different? 

Sometimes, when Mako watched Raleigh sleep, she had to get up and look outside, because the sounds of the screams in her dreams seemed so real - and in such a contrast to Raleigh's deep, calm breaths - that they had to _exist._ She learned to stop shaking Raleigh awake so that he could fight an invisible monster with her after the second time that it happened. 

When the Rift was sealed, it was no longer selfish to publicly express _hurt._ Construction crews for the Wall of Life found new work in building monuments to fallen heroes and lost civilians, and public funerals became common place. No more lives were going to be lost to the Kaiju, and the business of honoring - instead of avenging - those who had already fallen was not going to take away from the efforts to prevent more lives from being lost. 

Mako honored her sensei's friendship with Marshall Hansen by attending Chuck's funeral and Raleigh honored Chuck's bravery by attending the funeral with her. Mako thought of the child that she had known, and how different of a man he'd grown up to become, while Chuck's father mourned the life he'd already given up so much to protect. The tight grip that Mako used to hold onto Max's leash was replicated onto the hand that Raleigh offered during her sensei's funeral. 

When the Rift was sealed, gratitude did not have long to linger before the sport of blame took its place. Anger at those who had devoted time and resources to the Wall, anger directed too at those same governments who bickered over who had the most right to decide what to do with the Jaeger technology, now that the Kaiju had been defeated.

There was a lot of yelling in their shared apartment, each time Raleigh tried to watch one of those debates on the news. The anger was never directed at her, and Mako did not judge him for the outbursts, because her dislike of those who would use the technology she used to avenge her family was far more severe than his outbursts were capable of being. 

Finally, when the Rift was sealed and the disbelief, aching, and anger had passed, the world allowed itself a type of healing that hadn't been possible when the attacks had still been ongoing. When the world did not seem to be quite such a bad place anymore, the idea of bringing more children into did not seem to be such a horrifying one.

On their way back from a conference with Marshall Hansen, Mako and Raleigh passed three strollers and two women who looked very much like they were going to be needing strollers soon. 

"Baby booms in every place we visit these days," Raleigh noted. "I remember reading about those, back in all those history classes I mostly slept my way through. Didn't think I'd ever help usher in one for anybody."

Mako paused to watch a fourth stroller go by, this one decorated with images of the Crimson Typhoon, and she allowed a small smile at that sight. "We are not joining the 'boom.'" 

There was much re-building still to be done. Too many governments trying to determine what the technology would be used for. Too many battles still left to be fought, even with the Kaiju gone.

"Hey, I've been in your head," Raleigh answered with a shrug. "No need to tell me what I already know." 

"If that were true, we would very rarely talk at all," Mako pointed out, and his shrug turned into a grin that took over his entire body's movements, the way discussion of their drift almost always did. 

"True enough." The conversation paused long enough for Raleigh to high-five a child in a stroller designed with their Jaeger. "So in the interest of things we already know about each other, we should get a dog." 

They did. In the two weeks that it took them to settle on a name – because drifting did not repair all disagreements - Mako watched Raleigh play fetch with the dog in their apartment and she began to believe that hope could be a part of their new family, too.


End file.
